Recaps for Poor People: Love and Money (mostly love) on NBC Thursday

Last night when our stories were about to come on, my husband asked “Isn’t it sad that you have to be working during TV now?” And I said, “Are you kidding? Having an audience for my television musings is a weekly celebration.” And now: it is time to party.

30 Rock

Liz is up to renegotiate her contract at TGS. She discovers tapes of a seminar Jack had given, and takes what she learns there to the table. Liz has learned important tricks, like speaking first and having a hair out of place are signs of weakness. In her meeting with Jack, Jack is tricked into speaking first when:

Power shoes.

(Vomit.)

Jack catches onto what Liz is doing, and that he is negotiating with himself. “It’s a Jack-off!” YES. TIME TO JUMP.

Jenna and Tracy are working a bar mitzvah where they are treated like normals because the kid has taken the role of the star. This wasn’t the funniest story of the show, although it did have my favorite line: Tracy said, “The IRS is gonna find out my house isn’t a church, although I do serve kids wine there.”

Meanwhile, Kenneth is back at TGS after only a day out, and is crushed to learn that nobody even knew he was gone. Jenna mistook a wig in the recycling bin for Kenneth, and Pete thought he was the broom in the kitchen. Kenneth bails on TGS to work on the Suze Orman Show, and her page, Hazel (played by Kristen Schaal, whom I’d assumed everybody liked but I might be wrong?) takes over Kenneth’s duties. Suze Orman, in her in-your-face style, tells Kenneth that he needs to think about his own future, and he’ll never truly be friends with the people he works for. She tells it like it is, that Suze.

Liz and Jack’s negotiations land them in an ice cream store, which Liz decides is her Russia — the place she can’t lose. Anticipating this move, Jack has set up his office furniture in there. When Liz employs power quiet-talking, Jack points out his hearing aids. Then Liz fumbles, and Jack takes over both roles in a Power-Off, which he loses. Later, when he admits his defeat to Liz, he broke down in tears. Liz caved, but then immediately realized that Jack was using emotion as a weapon. He says it had never occurred to him! Liz, appalled that somebody wouldn’t know that already, asks “Have you not read the poetry of Jewel??” Kenneth wanders in and asks for advancement in the company. Jack and Kenneth, having gotten what they wanted, drank to white men.

Oh and Liz, winking at the camera, but mostly directly at me, says that after 6 years there is a lot that can still develop in her relationship with Jack. So Tina Fey reads Blogtown, I guess.

Parks and Recreation

As is Leslie’s tradition, she’s got all her girlfriends out for Galentine’s Day, and showers them with amazing, personalized gifts. She even calls Congress to suggest they make it a national holiday. (“Dear Congress, it’s Leslie again.”) Close-up on Ann: she is a little bummed out to be on her own this year.

At a Parks Department (or Knope campaign?) meeting later on, Leslie asks everybody to bring eligible dudes to the Valentine’s Day dance so Ann can meet new people. She has suggested inspirations:

Hey, girl. I love being in your power point...and your dreams.

Ben surprises Leslie with a V-Day gift that is…Otter Boat Cop? Man, NBC Thursday really gets us. Leslie gives Ben the first clue in what turns out to be a 25 clue scavenger hunt through everywhere they’ve been together. Leslie goes off to the dance, leaving Ben to solve the riddles with the help of Andy and Ron: Ace Cryptologists.

Like the Da Vinci code, except cool.

Leslie is bummed she can’t find a good guy for Ann for the dance. Jerry shows up with an extremely dashing fellow, saying it was easy, as he just put an ad on craigslist for “man seeking man for night of casual fun.” April brought Ann that weird guy Oren, who hides under the table. Chris isn’t helping things with his terrible song choices. He’s so bummed about Millicent dumping him that he’s staring longingly at Jerry because he’s 50% of her DNA. Ann ditches the party, and when Leslie goes to find her, discovers her curling her hair and putting on lipstick in her car. She gets pissed because she thinks Ann is going to get back together with Chris, making Chris a huge hypocrite since Ann is now his employee and Ben and Leslie got in so much trouble for that. When Ben solves the last clue and tracks down Leslie, he’s outraged too, so they track Ann down.

And she is…

On a date…

With TOM.

INTERESTING!

April set it up because she saw Ann and Tom laughing together. That April — sneakily being kind all over the place. I am excited to see where this goes. It could go a lot of directions. Where do YOU think it’s gonna land?

By the end of this fucking sweet (sweet like badass and sweet like awww) epi, Leslie is back at her desk and Ron wanders in to insist Leslie never ever make him get involved in another scavenger hunt, and definitely not for his birthday, forcing him to solve a series of puzzles, more intricate than the last. But then he whispers that he would like that.

Aww.

I love smiling Ron.

Oh, and there was a fucking hilarious cameo by the guy who played Roman on Party Down where he fixes a snowglobe.

The Office

Antics, as usual.

Up All Night

The guy who played Duffy on 30 Rock showed up. I bet it sucks to be an aspiring comedic actor and watch the same bromen get multiple roles within one night of network television.

In closing, I have a lot more feelings about a lot of these things. Sometimes I write these posts and feel like turning it into a thesis on the male/female boss/employee relationships between Jack and Liz and Ron and Leslie. But today I just founds gifs I liked, so another time.